Christian Ministry/Wise Companion Opportunities
The primary reason I began the moms’ meetings was to
encourage moms in ways to develop character in their children. If you have spent more than five minutes
around me or read my book or attended any of our moms’ meetings, you know how
strongly I encourage parents to “cement” regular Christian service/ministry
into their children’s school planner before any other outside-the-home
activities.
After homeschooling for 17 years, I can tell you
four things about most homeschooled children:
they are smart (see Dr. Brian Ray’s website (www.nheri.org)
for the latest academic stats on homeschoolers), they are talented
(check out recitals, concerts, or awards programs in almost any city in
America, and you’ll find homeschoolers shining brightly – and often intimidating us adults!), they are socially mature
(see Dr. Ray’s website for those national stats, too), and they are blessed
(how many other kids in the world still have two parents in the home – with one
of them usually at home full time, giving them a faith-based education, driving
them back-and-forth to whatever interest they show a bent for until the wheels
fall off the car, and sacrificing financially to make sure they receive
whatever tools they need to succeed?).
There are always exceptions, but homeschooled kids largely fit this
description.
And
everyone knows what often happens to people (or nations) that are smart,
talented, and socially and spiritually blessed. They tend to get proud and self-sufficient
and develop tiny little attitudes that maybe it isn’t their God who has blessed
them so, but something inherently good in them that has brought them all their
attention and favor, and perhaps they should expect this favorable treatment
from the rest of the world for the rest of their lives (check out Biblical and
secular history for the stats on that).
So, how do we keep these smart, blessed and talented kids
from becoming proud? One very important
way (though it is only one way) is to
teach our children the true meaning of greatness by being a servant. We want them to build life-long habits of
serving others in Jesus’ name. By going
"two-families-by-two" or “three-families-by-three” with families who
are also focusing on character, we build Scriptural, ministry-focused
relationships for our children. To that
end, I created this
Our
family has been involved in numerous extra-curricular activities in the past,
and our children have benefited academically or musically through them. There is nothing wrong with them. However, those activities need to be secondary to serving in Jesus’
name. Any area where our children
succeed comes with certain potential “snares,” one of the hardest to detect
being that of pride, either in our children or in us (or both!). Pride is only one trap; a self-focused
viewpoint and lax attitudes about spiritual things are also common snares for
our children. We can help to protect
them from those natural bents by making genuine Christian ministry (doing for
others with no hope of return or reward from man) a priority in their
lives. See the chapter entitled Teaching Children to Live for a Higher
Purpose than Themselves in my book, Children
of Character, for more encouragement in this area.
Below are
some service opportunities our family would like to invite you to join us in
this year. If you know of a Ministry
Opportunity you’d like to see added to the list, let me know. If you’d like the Moms’ group to sponsor a
ministry in which you’re already involved, let me know.
He that
walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be
destroyed. Pr 13:20
Bread of the
Mighty Food Bank
Ann Voyles, Tom Orndorf
(352) 336-0839 or foodbank@birchmore.net
Accepts donations of .16 per pound for food for the needy.
Call Ann
Voyles or Tom Orndorf to learn more about ministering to widows with food
boxes, or passing out pastries to the elderly (at no cost) in a downtown
apartment complex one day each month. A number of
families in our group deliver food to the needy. Some of us visit the seniors in the downtown
apartment buildings. Some deliver Thanksgiving
or Christmas food boxes, or deliver food boxes to widows or needy families on a
regular basis. One year, we asked our
children to write their own testimonies out on home-made tracts to put in each
box we gave out.
The Food Bank is also in great need of teen teams or family teams of 3 to
6 to help sort food in 1 to 4 hour shifts.
Christian
witnessing is allowed (and encouraged) with this ministry. You can also join
volunteers packing food boxes (bring your own tracts or anything with a
Christian message) to add to Thanksgiving boxes in November or at Christmas.
Bush Work
Day (New!)
(352) 372-7687 or Mamabear727@cs.com
This work day is for guys and gals, families and teens, and will be a
sort of “open house” yard work day at
Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father in Heaven. Matthew 5:16
Child Evangelism Fellowship
Call Maxine (352) 378-0949 for more
information, and to sign up.
Needs host homes for Good News Clubs
after school hours during the school year. This may be done once or
twice each year, or for 6 or 12 week intervals at a time. CEF staff provides materials and teachers for
neighborhood children invited by your family (or you or your teens may teach).
Needs
prayer support for the children in Good News Clubs while they are being
conducted.
Would greatly welcome families to
cook for their state CEF Staff Retreat of about 35 adults every March.
(If any families have a ministry in singing or music, there might also
be a need for that retreat).
Needs
families (particularly with older children who can be positive role models) to
help minister to children (be with on playground, talk to them, interact with
them, share the Gospel and God's love with them) during the day-camps that are
offered when school is out during the year (10-26, the week after Christmas,
1-21, 1-22, 2-18, 3-25 to 3-29, 4-5).
Needs
volunteer families to help paint buildings, do yard work, etc. throughout the
year.
As we
have opportunity, let us do good to all men, but
especially to those of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10
Christians
Concerned for the Community
Join Mr. Lynn Groce in this ministry
of meeting the practical needs of the poor in our area. This is a perfect ministry for teens 14+ who
are willing to do yard work, clean, paint, collect items for needy, or sort in
office. Those old enough can help deliver furniture or transport elderly to
medical appointments. Call
When you
gather the grapes in the vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward. It shall be for the stranger, for the
fatherless and for the widow.
Deuteronomy 24:21
Farm Chores on Hawthorne
Do you
have a high school age son? Then he is
invited to help Mr. Ron Priest with farm repairs and chores. Young men need to be willing to work hard,
take direction and display a servant attitude.
Mr. Priest is a Christian homeschooling father who was injured in a
terrible accident several years which has kept him from being able to do many
physical jobs on his farm. Work can be anything from helping to fix a barn roof
or a fence to cutting tree limbs, spraying the pond, or many other jobs. There are no work dates set up for this
ministry – it is a serve-as-you-can. Contact Ron and Angie Priest (apriest4homeschooling@msn.com) for more
information.
For God is not unjust
to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in
that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that
each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the
end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and
patience inherit the promises. Hebrews 6:10
Foreign Missions Support/Pen Pal Ministry
For $50 per month (tax-deductible),
your family can send an extremely poor child from
Then the
righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You
drink?"...And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say
to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, My
brethren, you did it to Me."
Matthew 25:37, 42
Habitat for Humanity
Accepts volunteers
age 14+ (or younger with a parent). Help with mail outs, at
thrift store, or on construction sites, from clearing lots or painting to
actual construction. Call 352-378-4663 for more information.
Beloved,
I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war
against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when
they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they
observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 1 Peter 11-12
Hospital Volunteer
North
Florida Regional Summer Teen Volunteer Program age 16+. (352) 333-4067 Min 6 hrs per
wk.
Shands Hospital Summer Teen Volunteer Program age
14+. Volunteer Services (352) 265-0111. Contact Grace Busjahn (352) 466-3533 to learn more about this
ministry at Shands.
Veterans Hospital Summer Youth
Volunteer Program age 13+ with an August Recognition Ceremony. (352) 374-6068.
"...or
when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to
You?' And the King will answer and say
to them, `Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least
of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matthew
25:39-41
Library Volunteer
(352) 372-7687 or Mamabear727@cs.com
Library hours: Tuesdays
Therefore
whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise
man who built his house on the rock: And
the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house;
and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25
Nursing Home Ministry
(352) 372-7687 or Mamabear727@cs.com or (352) 376-4052 during library hours
Join Lena Bush (and many other families
from our Moms’ Group) for one of
Go to www.afn.org/~afn18300/nhdescribe.htm for a
detailed description of what a visit to the nursing home with
Pure
religion and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Political Volunteer Work
Elected officials take volunteers all year long. Office work such as
stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, making signs or distributing flyers. Call any elected official to find ways your
family can volunteer, or contact
Therefore
I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence, for this is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. ..1 Tim 2:1-3
Prison Ministry (Writing)
Submitted by Katherine Van Zant (Klvzant@cs.com)
The Gospel Lighthouse is a mission church in east Gainesville
to the homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, children from 'the
projects' and prisoners. We have a specific ministry opportunity for
families to minister to prisoners. Almost all of the prisoners we work
with receive no letters and no visitors outside of the pastor of our
church. We are praying for families that are willing to 'visit' a
prisoner by sending him (or her) regular mail that will encourage them in their
Christian walk. We began praying about this idea and then received
confirmation when one of the prisoners proposed the idea to us. For your
security we ask that you use first names only and use a post office box for the
return mail.
Specific ministry opportunities are:
1. As a family, send letters to a specific prisoner encouraging him as he
learns to follow Christ.
2. Administrate the post office box used as a
return address for the families.
3. Pick up letters
sent by prisoners and forward them to the designated family.
-For further information contact
Katherine Van Zant at (352) 745-0315.
Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you
have done it to Me.
Jesus. Matt 25
Right to Life
Accepts teen volunteers age 14+ to
work in main office answering phones, doing clerical work, showing videos and
in the thrift store. Call 352-378-7824
for more information.
Do not
lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where
thieves break in and steal; but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and
where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
Ronald McDonald House
1600 SW 14 St, behind Steak and
Shake
Provides temporary
housing for out-of-area families whose children are hospitalized.
Volunteer families can cook dinner in their staff kitchen for residents
any evening, as well as dine, fellowship or offer to
pray with residents. Students can stop by and bake cookies or brownies, and
mingle with residents any afternoon.
Contact the Day Manager (352) 374-4404 to sign up.
It is more blessed to
give than to receive. Acts 20:35
Salvation Army
Accepts volunteers
16+ to work in thrift store sorting clothes & donated items.
(352) 376-1743.
Is this
not the fast that I have chosen...is it not to share your bread with the
hungry…? Is 58:6,7
Short-Term Missions
For the whole
family, from a few days to a week or more. Travel just over the
Mexican border (near
But
Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over
them. Yet it shall not be so among you;
but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave----just as the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for
many." Matthew 25:20-28
Women's Resource Center Crisis Pregnancy Center
Accepts teen volunteers under age 18
for limited office work. Call WRC at 352-377-4947 for more information.
So which
of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the
thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus
said to him, "Go and do likewise." Luke 10:36-37